Economic growth ‘held back by SNP confusion’

Graeme Roy, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, said that too many strategies, advisory groups and bodies had “cluttered” government policies and their deliveryIAN RUTHERFORD FOR THE TIMES

Scotland is failing to match the UK’s economic performance because of the confused and cluttered approach to policy adopted by the SNP government, a think tank has said.

In an embarrassing rebuff to the first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s claims that the SNP government was delivering on the economy, the Fraser of Allander Institute has produced a highly critical assessment of her administration’s efforts.

The think tank’s latest economic commentary said that the Scottish government’s focus on the economy was being blurred by “a proliferation of strategies, advisory groups and discussion forums”. It said that ministers had snagged the whole system up in so much red tape that it was becoming increasingly difficult for any single central economic strategy to deliver improvements. “A cluttered policy landscape…

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